The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine has approved funding for projects to be led by (from left) Nancy Lane, Vicki Wheelock, John Laird and Jan Nolta of UC Davis.

The University of California received or shared five grants totaling $93.1 million today (July 26) from the state’s stem cell agency to speed therapies to patients suffering from Huntington’s disease, critical limb ischemia, osteoporosis, melanoma and spinal cord injury. Three grants went to UC Davis researchers, one to UCLA and one was shared by UC Irvine.

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine awarded a total of $150 million to help move promising stem cell-based therapies from laboratory research to human clinical trials.

Overall, CIRM’s governing board has awarded more than $1.5 billion in stem cell grants, with more than half of the total going to the University of California or UC-affiliated institutions.